breaking news this morning in the mystery of flight 370, possible debris from the plane spotted off the coast of australia. >> this is a lead. it is probably the best lead we have right now. >> new images just in show something floating in the ocean. could it be the elusive malaysian plane that's been the focus of an international effort for 13 days? good thursday morning. i'm marci gonzalez in for diana perez. >> and i'm john muller. we begin with the breaking news, australia's department of defense released these satellite images of debris, two objects which may be related to the

missing flight. one of the pieces is thought to be as large as 78 feet long. the other, approximately 16 feet long. >> the area where the debris has been spotted is approximately 1500 miles southwest of perth, australia. in that vicinity, the ocean is well over a mile deep, if not more. it's in the area known to mariners as the roaring 40s. southern latitudes notorious for wild weather and waves. an american p 7 poseidon subhunter is searching at the moment. >> it can provide high resolution images and hopefully provide a clearer picture. david wright is on the plane and filed this report on his way to the search scene. >> reporter: this is david wright. i'm aboard a u.s. navy p8 poseidon that's a surge and rescue vessel. it's rescue 74.

we're past a search area that's headed towards the south pole from all those due south of kuala lumpur and what we're being told by the flight crew here is that they have some intelligence now that there is some sort of debris in the water. they're not clear what. we will be the first plane on site and we are just ascending through the clouds right now. this plane has some of the highest tech gear available, much of it classified and if anybody is likely to find something down there, this plane has a very good opportunity to do so. it's a serious enough sighting of debris not only is this plane headed into the area but two australian planes are headed this way combing the water for the next several hours searching for three hours looking both visually from the plane and also with all the high-tech gear they have on board to see what this might be in the water. it may be a false alarm but they seem to be treating it as a very

promising sign. it's about 1400 miles from antarctica, 2, 775 miles south-southwest of kuala lumpur and about 1300 miles from australia. we've been traveling three hours just to get to this site. we'll have three hours close to the water to search for whatever might be down there and then three hours to fly back. this is david wright aboard a u.s. navy p8 poseidon call sign rescue 74 about 1300 miles southwest of australia. >> our thanks to david wright. >> now to abc's news aviation expert stephen ganyard for his take on these developments. >> don't get radar returns off of nothing so it sounds to me that we've, indeed, found the wreckage. know this of's been looking in a certain area. i think with what happened is the u.s. intelligence community has been brought to bear and been able to use some of the satellite data of that part of the ocean based on some of the

forensics david was talking about with the pinging down south and so they've been focusing intently on this area earlier in the day. we saw that the australians focused their search area in a focused way. it's all being run through a rescue coordination center, again, as david says, the australians are pretty professional working hand in hand with the u.s. the u.s. and navy and australian air force are very used to working together. i'm sure there's all sorts of coordination going on. my guess what will happen now you'll have the p3 and p8 with satellite communications and go over if they see wreckage they'll take pictures and send that back via satellite. i think we will get an i.d. pretty quickly here. just one thing to know, we saw that the australian prime minister tony abbott called the malaysian prime minister with this news a couple of hours ago. to me that's pretty clear

signature that this is something that they think they have found and the courtesy call means that this is probably what we've been looking for. saying, i think they have pretty good beliefs this is it. i think they're probably dispatching ships to the area. we heard in the press conference that a merchant ship had been sent to the area. yes, we want to find wreckage. yes, we want to confirm that this is, in fact, the aircraft and that we have the area, but now as david said we need to do some forensics and need to do some meteorological and oce oceanography to figure out where it came from and, yes, this is good news but also need to remember in the air france mishap we were on top of that wreckage five days after the mishap, but it took us two years, even though we were right on top of that wreckage, to find the black boxes. so we still have a long way to go. you know, there's something good to be had in finally finding the wreckage and hopefully bringing

closure to these families but in terms of solving this mystery we have a long way to go. >> and abc's david kerley has been following the search for flight 370 since the very beginning. >> he filed this report a short time ago about what happens next if, in fact, this turns out to be the plane debris. >> reporter: ocean currents have undoubtedly carried this debris some period of time and some distance. so they'll bring in oceanographers to look at the currents in this specific area and track it back. they can look at those currents and how many days has gone back and narrow the circle significantly so you can get some of these navy vessels, these surface warships, surface ships over that area to start listening to the pingers from the black boxes. now, those batteries on those black boxes have two plus more weeks on them, if it is and you get vessels on station quickly there is a good chance you can hear it. you can hear those pingers up to 20,000 feet down. this is very deep water in the southern indian ocean and apparently there are a couple

very deep crevasses there, as well, so they want to get some vessels out there and start listening once they track back the debris if it is, in fact, the correct debris. >> all right, so let's recap what we know at this moment. regarding the developments in the search for malaysia flight 370. >> australia's department of defense released satellite pictures of debris. one is thought to be as large as 78 feet long. the other approximately 16 feet long. >> america's p8 poseidon sub hunting plane is on the scene searching right now. and other aircraft and at least one merchant ship are also responding. the location is approximately 1500 miles southwest of perth, australia, where the general depth of the ocean floor is well over one mile deep. >> now, this story is changing rapidly. we will have more later this half hour and, of course, on "good morning america." still ahead, other big stories we're following. it's becoming more clear that russia will expand its borders into ukraine. plus, toxic greeting.

a teenager under arrest accused of mailing a card laced with ricin. why investigators say the suspect singled out the man he sent it to. the breaking news in the search for the missing malaysian plane, the story developing by the minute after possible debris located. we'll have an update from australia coming up.

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learn how to prevent your child's next asthma attack. because even one attack is one too many. ar music playing ) - ( snaps, clatters ) that sounds awful. ( music stops ) but a lot better than last week. ( rock music playing ) ♪ we weren't born to follow. ♪ we're following breaking news in the search for flight 370. debris spotted by a satellite said to be possibly from the plane that vanished 13 days ago, the largest object is 78 feet long. australian search planes along with one of america's most advanced submarines are headed to that area in the indian ocean.

we will continue to update you throughout "america this morning". no you to other big story. ukraine is admitting defeat in crimea. evacuating its soldiers and their families. after pro-russian forces stormed the navy headquarters and briefly took its top commander prisoner. throughout crimea symbols of ukrainian rule are being dismantled. clocks are even being moved two hours ahead to moscow time. a bombshell in the oscar pistorius murder trial. prosecutors now say they're close to wrapping up their case. on wednesday a ballistics expert refuting the blade runner's story calling it impossible saying that reeva steenkamp was shot first in the hip raising doubts about how the bullets were fired. prosecutors say steenkamp was hiding in the bathroom after an argument. pistorius claims that he thought she was an intruder. osama bin laden's son-in-law took the stand during his trial in new york wednesday. he says he was invited to bin laden's cave the night after the 9/11 attacks where bin laden told him "we're the ones who did

it" but sulaimon said he warned his father-in-law that the u.s. would hunt him down and kill hip. new clues in the disappearance of madeleine mccann. she was 3 when she vanished. authorities say they have linked her case to an intruder who sexually assaulted several girls in the same region around the time of mccann's disappearance in 2007. new revelations about the crack cocaine use by toronto's mayor rob ford. ford ran away from reporters at city hall wednesday after police released the first description of the video on which ford is seen inhaling a vapor. the police report says that vapor, quote, appears to be a narcotic. ford has admitted to smoking crack in a drunken stupor. time now for the weather from across the nation. it'll be dry most places on the first day of spring. but there will be rain and snow from western pennsylvania into northern new england. there will also be rain and possibly snow in the northwest. parts of the northeast will

reach the upper 50s. high temperatures in the 50s. maybe even the 60s in the south and much of the midwest, southwest will range from the 70s to mid-80s. the latest on the breaking news, possibly debris from that plane after two weeks of searching. a live update. a driver narrowly escapes his truck before a train comes barreling through. this is the car i fell in love with! picking up my new malibu! no way! it's the chevy open house event look at joe's new truck where the price you see is the price you pay. nope that's me, alright! my equinox! from our house to your house it's time to take home an award winning chevy now during the chevy open house event , get this well equipped 2014 chevy cruze lt for under nineteen grand. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

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(laughter) nice phone, dude. thanks! smart phones make life easier. that's why esurance is introducing video appraisal. you can use your smart phone to video chat with a claims expert. they'll assess the damage and help settle your claim faster than ever. welcome to the modern world. esurance. backed by allstate. click or call. basically my whole life. this is viva® vantage. it has a stretch. it stretches! [ abbey ] can your paper towel do that? -no. -no. i'm like actually trying to break it. that stretch means scrubbing power. i need to get some. [ abbey ] new viva® vantage. the towel more people prefer. welcome back. checking your morning road conditions, it'll be slippery at either end of interstate 90 and the northern end of i-95 in the east. otherwise, most highways should be dry. we don't expect airport delays on this first day of spring. continuing to cover breaking news overnight. objects found in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370.

>> satellite images show two large pieces of debris in the indian ocean that may be part of that plane. they're 1500 miles southwest of perth. this is the best lead yet on the whereabouts of the plane. >> the largest image that i've seen has been assessed at 24 meters. there's another one that's smaller than that and a number of other images in the general area of the biggest one. >> now, the weather is often volatile in the area but today it's pretty good. the ocean depth there varies but if the plane is there, it may be more than a mile beneath the surface. well, for the families of more than 200 aboard, the flight has been agonizing. it's been 13 days of waiting for answers. >> abc's bob woodruff has been waiting with them in kuala lumpur and has the latest. >> reporter: this is the cyberview hotel. about 12 family members from all from china living in this place.

we've seen them outside their rooms listening to their phone calls, they're watching their e-mails. they're also getting their news off television. after this news came out this morning this possibility that they may have seen debris right down in australia, it's hard to get tear feelings because they're not willing to come out and speak to us. interesting. there's also a medical center that's been set up in this hotel, in fact, the other hotel in here in kuala lumpur also has the same, just in case they have some sort of stress they can rush them off to some other place. also then up in beijing the hotel up there, today after that news came out, the police escorted the family members out so they can avoid the media, all the photographers and reporters that were crowding around them. so we're waiting to see how they feel today. just imagine their dream was this plane would land safely someplace and they would find their loved ones in it. if there is debris in the water, that, of course, could change everything. >> bob woodruff there. all right, the u.s. actively participating in the search for the particularly high-tech

plane. >> nikki batiste joins us from perth, australia, with more. what are you hearing and able to tell us? >> reporter: good morning, we're still waiting for the u.s. flight to come back, but nothing has been confirmed. we were hearing earlier they may have detected some significant size objects but nothing confirmed at this point but my understanding now regardless whether or not they find anything, best case scenario is they will take images of any objects they did see. this he'll come back and those images will be analyzed, see whether or not they might be the flight so no matter what, no one will return in the next hour and two and say with absolute certainty this flight has been found. >> nikki, how far away is that site by air? we're talking a few hours away from the coast of australia? >> reporter: it's three-hour flight to get to the search area, so the p8 poseidon is on its way back, spent ten hours in the air. it will be returning in about

two hours. they spent three hours searching the area. >> it could be a while before we have any confirmation on this. >> no doubt. >> all right. >> reporter: there's one australian -- >> go ahead. >> reporter: there's one australian plane returning shortly so we may hear some news from them but so far nothing here in australia, no confirmation of any significant debris. >> okay, nikki battiste live in australia, thank you very much. here's the latest regarding new developments in the search for malaysia flight 370. >> australia's department of defense has released these two satellite images of debris. two objects which may be related to the missing flight. one of the pieces of debris thought to be as large as 78 feet long. the other one approximately 16 feet long. >> america's p8 poseidon sub hunting plane is on the scene searching right now and other aircraft and at least one merchant ship are also responding. the area where the debris has been spotted is approximately 1500 miles southwest of perth, australia, in that vicinity the

ocean is well over a mile deep, if not deeper. >> what a day it's going to be. stay with us for the latest on this story live team coverage coming up on "good morning america." still ahead more reasons to get some zs. >> alarming new study about what the lack of sleep is doing to your brain.

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take a look at that. new video from georgia of a train crashing through a semi trailer. police dash cam caught it all on camera. richard brown, moving from the state of florida, somehow got it stuck on the tracks. he escaped in town but lost his furniture, clothes and his bed. a former eagle scout near philadelphia accused of trying to kill a romantic rival with a birthday card. the scratch and sniff card was coated with ricin, a deadly poison. he allegedly left the card in the mailbox of his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend then told a co-worker. that co-worker told the police. >> warminster township police officers responded and were able to intercept the correspondence from the mailbox. >> lab tests confirmed ricin but officials don't believe there was any threat to the public safety. the 19-year-old is being held

without bail. now to a subject near and dear to those of us who work these early morning shifts, the chronic lack of sleep could cause brain damage. catching up on your sleep over the weekend is not going to cut it. at least that's what a new study has found in mice. researchers say the next step is to examine the brains of shift workers to see if there's evidence of the same type of damage in humans. you know what, i just don't want to know. >> yeah, i know because we are perfect candidates for that study. >> but what are you going to do? >> you do who you got to do but does explain a little. march madness gets under way. 16 games spanning about 12 hours. that is a lot of college basketball. >> one of the biggest players on the court will be that man, sim bhullar of new mexico state. he's 7'5". 355 pounds. >> man, oh, man. his team is taking on san diego state and how about this?

his little brother, little, also on the team,ly bro is just 7'3". can you imagine being 7'3" and you're the short one. >> shrimpy. hey, shorty, go over there and get the ball. >> a little intimidating on the court. >> wow. amazing comeback story here. professional dancer seriously injured in the boston marathon bombings is dancing again. >> adrianne haslet-davis lost her left leg and has a bionic one specifically design the so she could continue dancing and that's what she did at the ted conference. >> she did a short rumba and hopes to inspire others to reach their goals and be proactive in their lives and quite inspiring. >> absolutely and she looked marvelous. that's great. >> you know, i wonder if she could be qualifying for "dancing with the stars." >> one of the competitors this season. >> yeah. >> has bionic feet so there you go. for some of you your local

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good thursday morning at 4:28. i am kristen sze. >> i am eric thomas. mike, how is the weather? >> clouds. did you see the halo around the moon? that is how thin the high clouds are. they are showing up on live doppler 7 hd. from sutro tower the cloud cover is over the bay. it is harder to see the east bay than this time yesterday. today, it will be less sunshine and remain warmth but, still, low-to-mid 70's inland. 69 to 76 around the bay. breezy at the coast. mid-to-upper 60's. thursday morning commute from leyla gulen. >> we have an accident in sausalito traveling southbound

101. a car hit a deer. it is as you get close to the golden gate bridge into the tunnel. mostly green conditions on the map. a little bit of a slow down headed through castro valley along 580 but we moving along at top speeds. at the bay bridge toll plaza traffic is finally moving nicely in the tolls away from emeryville with construction in the westbound direction closer to the first tower to be wrapped up by 5:00. >> berkeley firefighters are at a fire that raced through an apartment building off the campus inhabited by students. things quiet now. i can also tell you most of the people would live in the building are still awake.

they woke up to quit a start. an hour ago more than 100 people were evacuated from the building at sound of the smoke alarm. one person smelled smoke and didn't know where it was coming from. an alarm was activated. berkeley fire was called to the scene. when people started to leave the building they saw plumes of white smoke from between two buildings on university avenue. they were not sure of the source but a witness smelled something that smelled electrical. crews found what was happening. >> looked like it may have been caused by smoking material above the debris pile, possibly the fire is out just clearing out the smoke.